IA 16767 Terms of Reference

Keith Prince: Following up on your delayed response to Question 2020/4635, when can I expect to receive copies of all communication and documentation (including the terms of reference for IA 16767) that TfL sent to RAIB on 24 November 2016 and again on 1 February 2017”?

The Mayor: The documents requested in Mayor’s Question 2020/4635 have now been published. Transport for London apologises for the delay.

District line operating times

Unmesh Desai: What changes, if any, have there been to the first and last train times on the District line since 1 January 2020? And what plans, if any, are there to change the times in the future?

The Mayor: Scheduled first and last train times have not changed on the District line since 1 January 2020. The times are published on the TfL website https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/tube/first-and-last-tube. There will be minor changes to these times in September as part of the first in a series of timetable improvements that will be progressively delivered by the Four Lines Modernisation programme, which will improve the reliability and frequency of the Circle, District, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines.

Toilets on bus Routes (3)

Elly Baker: How many Relief facilities are provided (a) by bus operating companies normally at bus garages; (b) by bus operating companies through local informal agreements with businesses; and (c) by TfL at key locations normally at bus stations, or large bus stands, where a significant number of routes terminate and land is available?

The Mayor: The following relief facilities are provided:
In addition, TfL has 50 licences to use facilities at locations such as hospitals and supermarkets. There are a further 19 leases that allow access to toilets at other businesses or facilities.

TfL Approval of Remote Sign On

Keith Prince: Did TfL need to approve Metroline’s, Arriva’s and Tower Transit’s roll-out of Remote Sign On on the Routes where it has been in place for some years? If so, please provide me copies of these approvals and all documentation associated with TfL’s approval of Remote Sign On on the 9 Routes which presently have it in place.

The Mayor: The introduction of remote sign-on was an operator-led initiative. As companies set the terms and conditions of their staff employment and are directly responsible for their health and safety at work, this is not an area where Transport for London (TfL) can direct them. The use of remote sign-on facilities is visible to TfL through the contract renewal and variation process. For the reasons above, it is not separately approved, and there is no documentation other than the publicly available notification of which operator won the route.

Speed limit on TFL Roads (2)

Leonie Cooper: Can the Mayor look into more enforcement of speed limits on TFL roads in Merton and Wandsworth?

The Mayor: Tackling speed on London’s roads is a priority for Transport for London (TfL) and the Metropolitan Police Roads and Transport Policing Command (RTPC), which has lead policing responsibility for tackling road danger. Speed enforcement is undertaken through safety cameras and on-street police activity and is prioritised based on analysis of risk and harm across London. In 2020, over 270,000 drivers were dealt with by police for speeding offences.
In May 2020, TfL and the RTPC introduced a new process where the road safety officers within local authorities could request police support to deal with speeding. Again, these requests have to be prioritised on the basis of risk, harm and community concern. The London Boroughs of Merton and Wandsworth have both submitted requests through this process and are encouraged to continue to do so. Since its launch, five of the 12 locations reported by the London Borough of Merton have met the requirement for enforcement activity. Two locations have had officers deployed to them, resulting in one location having seven hours of operation, with one non-speed related ticket issued; the other location has had 9.5 hours of operation, with two speeding tickets issued. The remaining locations will be enforced in the coming weeks. In the London Borough of Wandsworth, two reports concerning speed were submitted but neither met the threshold to trigger enforcement activity.
In line with my Vision Zero and manifesto commitments, TfL and the MPS are working to significantly increase the level of speed enforcement. This will include the use of mobile safety camera equipment and enforcement vans which will provide additional capacity for the police to respond to community concerns about speeding on residential roads. This will go live later this year.

Hammersmith and Fulham Bridge (2)

Leonie Cooper: A constituent has written to say she thinks that instead of spending money on a new Royal yacht, a better use of public funds, and in the tradition of the Royals and the Duke’s thoughts on things needing to be useful, she suggests using those funds to build a new Prince Phillip bridge instead to replace Hammersmith and Fulham bridge. Could the Mayor suggest this to the Government at the next meeting of the task force?

The Mayor: Building a new bridge would cost more and be more disruptive than repairing the existing bridge. Hammersmith Bridge, which is owned by the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham, is a Grade II listed structure, reflecting its importance and the need to protect it for future generations. The Government-chaired Hammersmith Bridge Taskforce is progressing plans to repair it to ensure it continues to serve the needs of those living and working in west London.

E-scooters and the dangers they present, Brent and Harrow Constituency

Krupesh Hirani: It has come to my attention that e-scooters are causing a serious and very real danger to pedestrians within my constituency. Can I ask for your support in lobbying the Metropolitan Police Roads and Transport Policing Command (RTPC) to enforce the legalities of e-scooter use.

The Mayor: The MPS already carries out enforcement activity in this respect, with targeted days of action stopping e-scooter riders. In the first four months of 2021, the MPS has seized 595 e-scooters due to insurance and licence offences.
There are also a number of initiatives run by the MPS or embedded within the London rental e-scooter trial. These include rider training, communications and awareness raising campaigns, the use of no-go and go-slow zones, and on-street teams identifying risky behaviour and issuing warningsto riders.

Transport for London staff using body worn video (1)

Siân Berry: Could you tell me a) for how long images and video captured by body worn video used by Transport for London (TfL) staff will be stored, and b) which authorities will have access to these images and videos?

The Mayor: As part of Transport for London’s (TfL) aim to eradicate workplace violence and aggression, 4,500 Body Worn Video (BWV) cameras are being rolled out to front-line TfL staff.
Where a BWV camera is activated but this does not result in an incident being reported, the video will be deleted after two weeks. If footage is tagged and logged for the purpose of investigation of a crime or public order incident, the footage is kept for 12 months before being automatically deleted.
The rollout of BWV has followed General Data Protection Regulation requirements. Access to recordings is tightly controlled and there are strict guidelines managing who can view footage within TfL. The police can request body worn camera video and audio images from TfL for the purpose of investigating a crime or incident and to apprehend an offender. Footage requested by the police is used in evidence for the successful prosecution of those who assault staff. No other authority has access to these images.

Hospital data for violence prevention - the Cardiff Model (1)

Caroline Pidgeon: Can you confirm whether all 29 London A&Es are still taking part in Information Sharing to Tackle Violence (ISTV) and sharing this data with the GLA Safe Stats team?

The Mayor: Over the last year, despite the impact of Covid-19, 28 of the 29 Type 1 Emergency Departments in London have continued to submit their ISTV data to the GLA Strategic Crime Analysis Team. The remaining emergency department (Hillingdon) continues to be engaged with the ISTV programme but needs to overcome technical problems relating to a new IT system, which has interrupted data sharing.

TfL’s Failure to Publish Timely Bus Safety Data

Keith Prince: Your response to question 2021/0559 suggests to me that you, as TfL Chair, are being complacent about TfL’s long tradition of obstructing public scrutiny of the safety performance of its contracted bus operation. TfL is now approaching being one year behind in publishing Q3 2020’s data and 6 months behind for Q4 2020’s data. When will 2020’s complete data set be published and which TfL Executive has the paid responsibility for ensuring this work is performed in a timely and accurate manner?

The Mayor: In my answer to Mayor’s Question 2021/0559, I explained the reasons for the delayed publication of this data.Since then, Transport for London (TfL) has updated its publication schedule and detailed data on bus safety incidents between July 2020 and March 2021 has now been published on its website at the following link: https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/publications-and-reports/bus-safety-data
TfL’s safety performance continues to be analysed and considered each quarter in its published Safety, Health & Environment Quarterly Reports, available here: https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/publications-and-reports/safety-sustainabil.... These reports includethe number of people killed or seriously injured in bus safety incidents each quarter.

Crossrail (2)

Caroline Pidgeon: Pursuant to Question 2021/412 please set out a monthly timetable for 2021 showing the remaining authorisation submissions Crossrail will be required to make for verification of their infrastructure and rolling stock to comply with all relevant standard requirements, showing Crossrail’s planned submission of the 18 chapters of their Technical File to ORR.

The Mayor: Crossrail is in continuous dialogue with the appointed Approved Body, Ricardo Rail, and submissions are made progressively. There are monthly technical meetings with the Office of Rail and Road’s (ORR’s) assessors set up by Crossrail and with Ricardo Rail in attendance, at which the scope of individual parts of the Technical File are discussed in detail. This is beneficial to both the ORR and Crossrail, as it allows early engagement and de-risks the programme for authorisation for entry into passenger service.
Please find attached an updated submission timetable for the Technical File Chapters.

The Mayor: 1411 attachment.xlsx

Future of the Congestion Charge

Elly Baker: Point 12 of the October 2020 Transport for London Settlement Letter links the funding of travel concessions for all Londoners aged under 18 and 60-65 with maintaining the Congestion Charging changes implemented in June 2020 and an increase to the existing TfL element of the GLA council tax precept from 1 April 2021. Given you have said, “I will be negotiating with the Government, so we don’t have to have it [the congestion charge] seven days a week or up until 10pm”, do you expect any changes to the Congestion Charge to be reciprocated with changes to the requirement for TfL to fund concessionary travel?

The Mayor: It was a condition of Government financial support for Transport for London (TfL) over the last year that proposals to widen the scope and level of the Congestion Charge were brought forward urgently.
TfL has kept the changes made last year under review, and I have asked TfL officers to bring proposals to me regarding what the best congestion charging arrangements would be to ensure a strong economic recovery in London – one that is environmentally sustainable and fair to all.
I am expecting these proposals later this summer, and they would be subject to public consultation.

Toilets on bus Routes (5)

Elly Baker: What is the minimum level of driver facilities to be provided contained within the bus tender contracts?

The Mayor: The requirement to ensure there are suitable toilet and other welfare facilities for bus drivers rests with their employers, the bus operating companies. The level and location of those facilities is based on a number of factors, but there is at least one toilet facility available on every bus route in London. Transport for London provides many of those facilities – at bus stands, bus stations and railway stations – but use is also made of other public and private facilities. Toilet locations are set out in the current Invitations to Tender for each route and, where the operator believes more are needed, they are required to provide them.

Anti-social behaviour

Unmesh Desai: Will you be refreshing your approach to working with the Met and with local boroughs in order to address anti-social behaviour over the next 3 years?

The Mayor: I know the distress that anti-social behaviour (ASB) can cause to our communities. That is why I made tackling it a mandatory priority for all London Boroughs and I have supported local crime prevention, protection and engagement through investment in neighbourhood policing, putting Dedicated Ward Officers into every neighbourhood.
I continue to fund projects to tackle ASB at a Borough level through the London Crime Prevention Fund (LCPF), for example I invested more than £1million across Croydon, Greenwich, Hillingdon, and Hammersmith and Fulham specifically to tackle ASB.
Over the next three years, MOPAC will continue to build on the good work that has already been done to tackle ASB and will continue to work with the MPS to deliver a policing service that is better equipped to perform their role in dealing with crime and ASB locally.

Enforcement of rapid charging points (2)

Caroline Pidgeon: What is the total number of penalty charge notices that have been issued for non-compliance in electric vehicle bays allocated solely to taxis?

The Mayor: Since 5 July 2018, 117 Penalty Charge Notices have been issued for vehicles parked in an electric vehicle bay for taxis.

Likely carbon emissions increases from Silvertown Road Tunnel (1)

Siân Berry: Highways England has found that carbon emissions are 8 per cent higher than expected for the M3 Smart Motorway J2 to J4a scheme, because a higher than expected proportion of Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) are using this road. Given that the Silvertown Road Tunnel will encourage HGVs by providing them with access to a bus lane, can you share modelling that shows what proportion of HGVs you expect to be in traffic created by this new urban motorway?

The Mayor: Figure 7-4 of Transport for London’s (TfL) Transport Assessment* explains the traffic composition for the Silvertown/Blackwall crossing as well as other River Thames crossings. This shows the ‘assessed case’ and ‘reference case’ scenarios (i.e. with and without the Silvertown Tunnel scheme in place respectively). The results show no change in the proportion of Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) crossing the river at Silvertown/Blackwall. In fact, TfL expects a slight decrease in the number of HGVs as a result of the user charging which is an intrinsic part of the Silvertown Tunnel scheme. Currently, HGVs can travel through the Blackwall Tunnel for free to avoid charges at the Dartford Crossing. The introduction of charges at Blackwall and Silvertown will remove any financial incentive to choose this route.
The Silvertown Tunnel will not therefore encourage HGVs. The new tunnel is designed to modern standards and, for reasons of road safety, HGVs will be given access to the bus lane. However, the scheme as a whole is designed to discourage HGVs travelling into London unnecessarily, while addressing the longstanding issues of congestion, poor reliability and a lack of resilience at the Blackwall Tunnel.
*TfL’s Transport Assessment for the Silvertown Tunnel is available online at: https://infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/wp-content/ipc/uploads/projects/TR010021/TR010021-000221-6.5%20Transport%20Assessment.pdf

Remote Sign On

Keith Prince: When was Remote Sign On put in place on the following Routes?
Metroline Routes 139, 306 and 328
Arriva Routes 2, 19, 38 and 73
Tower Transit Routes C2 and 3

The Mayor: Routes 38 and 73 have used the Mildmay Park sign-on facility since 2005. Route 19 has used the Finsbury Park facility since 2016. Route 139 has used the Golders Green facility since 2020. Remote sign-on has not been introduced on routes 306, 328, 2, C2 or 3.